Hinge



July 14, 1964 w. J. ROZMUS HINGE Filed June 1, 1961 INVENTOR. l/m. TEE :Zfiaznus wme r%.

Arrme/vEY United States Patent 3,140,507 HINGE Waiter J. Ro zrnus, Hubbardsville, N.Y., assignor to Cor- Glass Works, Corning, N.Y., a corporation of New on:

Filed June 1, 1961, Ser. No. 114,169 2 Claims. (Cl. 16--128) The present invention is particularly concerned with the provision of a simple form of light-duty hinge, the method of manufacture of its parts and its manner of assembly.

According to the invention the hinge parts are made of sheet metal which may conveniently be integral parts of articles to be hinged to one another, although obviously this is not necessarily the case. In the present example of the invention the one sheet metal part comprises part of a culinary dish support having a cup embodied therein for receipt of a dish warming candle. The other part of the hinge has integral therewith a flame spreader adapted to be positioned over the candle cup. The sheet to embody one hinge part is subjected to a cutting and forming operation which comprises cutting therethrough along parallel short straight lines, spaced from one another a distance depending upon the width of the other hinge part to be accommodated, and pressing the region therebetween into an open ended trough or passage extending between the straight out lines.

The sheet to embody the other hinge part is bifurcated, but in the bifurcating operation a bridge of material of the sheet is preferably retained across such bifurcated portion. Each branch of the bifurcated portion at its free end has a lateral pintle extension projecting outwardly therefrom along a line normal to such branches jointly useable as a hinge pintle and spanning a distance exceeding the length of the defined trough.

To assemble the hinge parts the described bridge is folded along a line parallel to the bifurcated portion to reduce the distance between its free ends to substantially that of the trough length. The bifurcated end of the other hinge part is then arranged in the trough and the bridge unfolded to project the pintle extensions thereof through the trough ends and which then extend under the adjacent unformed portion of the sheet. As will be well understood the forming of the hinge parts can usually be conveniently and economically effected concurrently with the formation and/ or cutting out from sheets the articles with which they are integral.

In the accompanying drawing:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a circular sheet metal disc portion of a culinary dish support having a candle cup associated therewith and having embodied therein an open ended trough forming one part of a hinge embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view of the structure of FIG. 1 taken on line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a fragment of the structure of FIG. 1, but before unfolding of the bridge embodied in the bifurcated portion of the flame spreader to project the pintle extensions thereof through the open ends of the trough.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a fragment of the disc of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 66 of FIG. 5.

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Referring to the drawing in detail, there is shown a sheet metal disc 11 having embodied therein a candle cup 12. Formed into the sheet is a trough 13 between two parallel and suitably spaced straight cut through lines 14 and 15.

A spreader plate 21, integral with bifurcated branches 22 and 23, is arranged over the opening of cup 12 and with the free ends of such branches bent into a plane normal to the disc 11 and occupying the trough 13 with their pintle extensions 17 and 18 underlying the unformed portions of disc 11 adjacent the cut lines 14 and 15.

As will be evident from FIG. 3 the assembly of the hinge parts of disc 11 and spreader plate 21 involved the bending of bridge 25 across branches 22 and 23 along a line generally parallel to the bifurcated portion of such plate thus bending the branches 22 and 23 at their narrow regions 26 and 27 respectively, as required to shorten the distance between the free ends of extensions 17 and 18 to that between the cut lines 14 and 15, thus enabling the free end of the bifurcated spreader plate 21 to be arranged in trough 13. Obviously the bridge 25 is then unfolded into the plane of branches 22 and 25 to project the extensions out through the open ends of trough 13 as illustrated in FIG. 1.

As will be appreciated the invention is capable of alternative forms. For example, although provision of the bridge 25 is highly desirable, since it securely holds the branches in their separated positions, it may be omitted and the branches simply bent or flexed toward one another to facilitate assembly of the hinge.

Moreover, the pintle passage in sheet 11 need not necessarily be in the form shown, since such a passage can alternatively be formed by imparting aligned troughs in the regions of the sheet, outside the space between the straight cut lines, having open ends facing one another into which the pintle extensions can be projected.

What is cliamed is:

1. An improved hinge construction comprising a sheet of rigid material, a recessed trough portion formed in said sheet of rigid material, said trough having opposed open end portions forming pintle receiving passages; a body member having a bifurcated end portion provided with a pair of spaced-apart branches formed integrally with and extending from the body member, a pintle extension formed on each of said spaced-apart branches adjacent an outer end thereof and projecting laterally outwardly with respect to a median line extending between said branches for initial positionment within said trough, a bendable bridge portion connecting said spaced-apart branches adjacent their outer ends and extending substantially prependicular to such median line, and said bridge portion when flexed lying within the plane of said branches to position and retain said pintle extensions within said pintle receiving passages.

2. An improved easily manufacturable and inexpensive hinge assembly for pivotably mounting a substantially planar bifurcated member onto a sheet metal body which comprises, a downwardly recessed trough formed in an upper surface of said sheet metal body, said trough having a pair of open end portions communicating with the lower surface of said sheet metal body forming pintle receiving passages, a pair of spaced-apart branch portions at one end connected to a common end portion of said bi- 5 furcated member and extending longitudinally outwardly therefrom to form the bifurcation of such member, a foldable bridge portion extending substantially perpendicular to a median line extending between said branch portions and connecting said branch portions together adjacent the outer ends thereof, a hinge pintle formed on said outer end of each of said branch portions extending transversely of the longitudinal extent of each said branch portion; said hinge pintles positioned within said trough when said bridge portion is in a folded position, and extending within said pintle passages to form a hinged connection when said bridge portion is flattened; and said flattened bridge portion lying intermeditae, and within the plane of, said branch portions to maintain said hinge pintles within said pintle passages.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Toms et al Aug. 13, McConachy Nov. 2, Berry Sept. 30, Hammer Nov. 6, Cooper et al Nov. 13, Whitlock Nov. 21, Irelan -u Jan. 13, McVinney May 1, Guyot July 8,

FOREIGN PATENTS Germany Oct. 22, Italy Aug. 5, 

1. AN IMPROVED HINGE CONSTRUCTION COMPRISING A SHEET OF RIGID MATERIAL, A RECESSED TROUGH PORTION FORMED IN SAID SHEET OF RIGID MATERIAL, SAID TROUGH HAVING OPPOSED OPEN END PORTIONS FORMING PINTLE RECEIVING PASSAGES; A BODY MEMBER HAVING A BIFURCATED END PORTION PROVIDED WITH A PAIR OF SPACED-APART BRANCHES FORMED INTEGRALLY WITH AND EXTENDING FROM THE BODY MEMBER, A PINTLE EXTENSION FORMED ON EACH OF SAID SPACED-APART BRANCHES ADJACENT AN OUTER END THEREOF AND PROJECTING LATERALLY OUTWARDLY WITH RESPECT TO A MEDIAN LINE EXTENDING BETWEEN SAID BRANCHES FOR INITIAL POSITIONMENT WITHIN SAID TROUGH, A BENDABLE BRIDGE PORTION CONNECTING SAID SPACED-APART BRANCHES ADJACENT THEIR OUTER ENDS AND EXTENDING SUBSTANTIALLY PREPENDICULAR TO SUCH MEDIAN LINE, AND SAID BRIDGE 